Towards a database on societal impact of Mediterranean floods in the framework of the HYMEX project

The NW Mediterranean region experiences every year heavy rainfall and flash floods that occasionally produce catastrophic damages. Less frequent are floods that affect large regions. Although a large number of databases devoted exclusively to floods or considering all kind of natural hazards do exist, usually they only record catastrophic flood events. This paper deals with the new flood database that is being developed within the framework of HYMEX project. Results are focused on four regions representative of the NW sector of Mediterranean Europe: Catalonia, Spain; the Balearic Islands, Spain; Calabria, Italy; and Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrenées and PACA, France. The common available 30-yr period starts in 1981 and ends in 2010. The paper shows the database structure and criteria, the comparison with other flood databases, some statistics on spatial and temporal distribution, and an identification of the most important events. The paper also provides a table that includes the date and affected region of all the catastrophic events identified in the regions of study, in order to make this information available for all audiences.

Patients' right to information: a review of the regulatory and ethical framework

[eng] Aim: The paper examines the current situation of recognition of patients' right to information in international standards and in the national laws of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain (and Catalonia), Switzerland and the United Kingdom.Methodology: International standards, laws and codes of ethics of physicians and librarians that are currently in force were identified and analyzed with regard to patients' right to information and the ownership of this right. The related subjects of access to clinical history, advance directives and informed consent were not taken into account.Results: All the standards, laws and codes analyzed deal with guaranteeing access to information. The codes of ethics of both physicians and librarians establish the duty to inform.Conclusions: Librarians must collaborate with physicians in the process of informing patients.

El dret a la informació del pacient: una aproximació legal i deontològica

[eng] Aim: The paper examines the current situation of recognition of patients' right to information in international standards and in the national laws of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain (and Catalonia), Switzerland and the United Kingdom.Methodology: International standards, laws and codes of ethics of physicians and librarians that are currently in force were identified and analyzed with regard to patients' right to information and the ownership of this right. The related subjects of access to clinical history, advance directives and informed consent were not taken into account.Results: All the standards, laws and codes analyzed deal with guaranteeing access to information. The codes of ethics of both physicians and librarians establish the duty to inform.Conclusions: Librarians must collaborate with physicians in the process of informing patients.

El derecho a la información del paciente: una aproximación legal y deontológica

[eng] Aim: The paper examines the current situation of recognition of patients' right to information in international standards and in the national laws of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain (and Catalonia), Switzerland and the United Kingdom.Methodology: International standards, laws and codes of ethics of physicians and librarians that are currently in force were identified and analyzed with regard to patients' right to information and the ownership of this right. The related subjects of access to clinical history, advance directives and informed consent were not taken into account.Results: All the standards, laws and codes analyzed deal with guaranteeing access to information. The codes of ethics of both physicians and librarians establish the duty to inform.Conclusions: Librarians must collaborate with physicians in the process of informing patients.

A preliminary catalogue of natural substances of opistobranch molluscs from Western Mediterranean and near Atlantic

A list of opisthobranch molluscs species from the western Mediterranean and nearby Atlantic is presented. These species have natural products that are of interest because of their chemical structure, origin and/or function in benthic ecosystems. This review contains data on the origin and activity of these molecules, collection sites of the animals, and their bibliographic references. A discussion of these subjects is also included.

Spatial and temporal variation of natural toxicity in cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates in Mediterranean caves

The natural toxicity of cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates in two caves was assessed using the Microtox® technique in spring and autumn. One cave was located in the Cabrera Archipelago (Balearic Islands) and the other in the Medes Islands (Catalan littoral). The organisms analysed were good representatives of the coverage of each Phylum in the communities; however, these Phyla are less abundant than sponges which are the dominant group in these caves. Seventy-one percent of the species of cnidarians and bryozoans analysed were toxic in one of the caves, communities or seasons, which indicates the relevance of bioactive species in these groups. The tunicate Lissoclinum perforatum was the most toxic species. Although all three Phyla had some highly toxic species, a common pattern that related the caves, communities and seasons was not found. Seasonal variation of toxicity in cnidarians and bryozoans was higher in the Cabrera than in the Medes cave. Moreover, variation in toxicity either between communities or between seasons was a common trait for most cnidarians and bryozoans, whereas tunicates remained toxic throughout communities and seasons.

Microsatellite markers reveal shallow genetic differentiation between cohorts of the common sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck) in northwest Mediterranean

Temporal variability was studied in the common sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus through the analysis of the genetic composition of three yearly cohorts sampled over two consecutive springs in a locality in northwestern Mediterranean. Individuals were aged using growth ring patterns observed in tests and samples were genotyped for five microsatellite loci. No reduction of genetic diversity was observed relative to a sample of the adult population from the same location or within cohorts across years. FST and amova results indicated that the differentiation between cohorts is rather shallow and not significant, as most variability is found within cohorts and within individuals. This mild differentiation translated into estimates of effective population size of 90100 individuals. When the observed excess of homozygotes was taken into account, the estimate of the average number of breeders increased to c. 300 individuals. Given our restricted sampling area and the known small-scale heterogeneity in recruitment in this species, our results suggest that at stretches of a few kilometres of shoreline, large numbers of progenitors are likely to contribute to the larval pool at each reproduction event. Intercohort variation in our samples is six times smaller than spatial variation between adults of four localities in the western Mediterranean. Our results indicate that, notwithstanding the stochastic events that take place during the long planktonic phase and during the settlement and recruitment processes, reproductive success in this species is high enough to produce cohorts genetically diverse and with little differentiation between them. Further research is needed before the link between genetic structure and underlying physical and biological processes can be well established.

Imaging the seascapes of the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean Sea is a relative newcomer to Earth"s landscape. Due to its complex tectonic history, this mid-latitude sea is composed of a cluster of basins. Their seascape is in most cases dominated by geologically young structures, but also by sedimentary processes. Among the latter, sedimentary processes related to the dynamics of the largest rivers in the Mediterranean (Ebro, Rhône, Po, Danube, and Nile) stand out. This overview article illustrates the main sedimentary processes and their products contributing to shape the Mediterranean seascape within a source-tosink approach. To highlight this approach, this article mainly focuses on one of the EUROSTRATAFORM project study areas: the northwestern Mediterranean.

Impacts on the deep-sea ecosystem by a severe coastal storm

Major coastal storms, associated with strong winds, high waves and intensified currents, and occasionally with heavy rains and flash floods, are mostly known because of the serious damage they can cause along the shoreline and the threats they pose to navigation. However, there is a profound lack of knowledge on the deep-sea impacts of severe coastal storms. Concurrent measurements of key parameters along the coast and in the deep-sea are extremely rare. Here we present a unique data set showing how one of the most extreme coastal storms of the last decades lashing the Western Mediterranean Sea rapidly impacted the deep-sea ecosystem. The storm peaked the 26th of December 2008 leading to the remobilization of a shallow-water reservoir of marine organic carbon associated with fine particles and resulting in its redistribution across the deep basin. The storm also initiated the movement of large amounts of coarse shelf sediment, which abraded and buried benthic communities. Our findings demonstrate, first, that severe coastal storms are highly efficient in transporting organic carbon from shallow water to deep water, thus contributing to its sequestration and, second, that natural, intermittent atmospheric drivers sensitive to global climate change have the potential to tremendously impact the largest and least known ecosystem on Earth, the deep-sea ecosystem.

An introduction to Mediterranean deep-sea biology

This chapter presents the state of the art concerning the deep-sea Mediterranean environment: geology, hydrology, biology and fisheries. These are the fields of study dealt with in the scientific papers of this volume. The authors are specialists who have addressed their research to the Mediterranean deep-sea environment during the last years. This introduction is an overview but not an exhaustive review.

Contexto estructural y paleogeográfico de los sistemas lacustres cenozoicos de España.

La evolución de los sistemas lacustres cenozoicos en España estuvo claramente influida por: l) la edificación de los orógenos pirenaico y bético y la intensa deformación interna que afectó la microplaca de Iberia. 2) l0s cambios de las condiciones paleogeogrlficas y paleoclimáticas generales que afectaron la región mediterránea occidental-atlántica oriental en la que se localizaba Iberia. Potentes sucesiones de carbonatos y evaporitas lacustres han sido reconocidas en la mayor parte de las cuencas cenozoicas españolas. Junto a estos depósitos se registra la presencia de otros menos frecuentes (carbón, devósitos bituminosos, diatomitas, arcillas especiales) también significativos desde un punto de vista geolimnolÓgico e interesantes desde una perspectiva económica. Los mayores y mis persistentes sistemas lacustres se ubicaron en las cuencas de antepaís, arealmente muy extensas. Los de menor entidad y mis corta evolución se formaron en cuencas limitadas por fallas de distintos tipos. En ambos casos los sistemas lacustres evolucionaron en estrecharelacióncon sistemas aiuviales y sus características hidroquírnicas estuvieron muy influidas por el reciclaje de depósitos de carbonatos, sulfatos y cloruros, fundamentalmente de edad mesozoica. Este reciclaje influyó tanto en la litologia de las sucesiones lacustres resultantes como sobre las caracteristicas de las asociaciones de organismos limnicos que se desarrollaron en los sistemas lacustres.

La caverna de José Saramago: imatge platònica versus metafísica

La caverna de José Saramago té com a referència indubtable la imatge de la caverna del llibre VII de la República de Plató, i, tanmateix, Saramago no és un escriptor idealista o metafísic. Aquest article mostra com, tot aprofitant l¿aplicabilitat amb què Plató dota la seva imatge, Saramago defensa la necessitat de saber rebre els missatges de la terra, de la matèria, de no esdevenir presoners en las cavernes daurades de la societat occidental, i d¿esdevenir lliures en la natura, phýsis, i no pas lluny o més enllà, metá, d¿ella.

La caverna de José Saramago: imagen platónica versus metafísica

La caverna de José Saramago tiene como referencia indudable la imagen de la caverna del libro VII de la República de Platón, y, sin embargo, Saramago no és un escritor idealista o metafísico. Este artículo muestra cómo, aprovechando la aplicabilidad con que Platón dotó a su imagen, Saramago defiende la necesidad de saber recibir los mensajes de la tierra, de la materia, de no convertirnos en prisioneros en las cavernas doradas de la sociedad occidental, y de ser libres en la naturaleza, phýsis, y no lejos o más allá, metá, de ella.

Cassandra's Dream de Woody Allen. La contemporaneïtat de la tragèdia grega

Cassandra's Dream, de Woody Allen (2007), no tingué les crítiques excel·lents de pel·lícules anteriors com ara Crimes and Misdemeanors i Match Point, on s'abordaven temes semblants. Tanmateix, segons l'opinió de l'autor d'aquest article, analitzada des de la perspectiva del llegat de la tragèdia grega en la cultura occidental, els mèrits d¿aquest film no són pas menyspreables. Les nombroses referències a la tragèdia grega, ja siguin títols o personatges, demostren la voluntat del director americà d'il·lustrar la contemporaneïtat del gènere esmentat, com també de presentar els homes i les dones d¿avui com a víctimes d'una gairebé omnipotent i sorneguera ironia tràgica. L'autor es proposa també de mostrar-hi les relacions evidents d'aquest guió amb el de Match Point i, sobretot, amb el que considera guió matriu de totes tres: Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Tradició misògina grega en el De amore d'Andreu el Capellà

L'objectiu d'aquest article és mostrar com els trets fonamentals de la misogínia grega, que és a la base de la secular misoginia occidental -i que no és només un llegat judeucristià- perviu en un text medieval del segle XIII com ara el De amore d'Andreas Capellanus. L'autor assenyala igualment les vies de transmissió més versemblants des de la Grècia Antiga fins al món medieval.